Felt Cheated by Online Shopping ? What are your options !

Oh Damn thats whats not I ordered !!!! Their Customer Support Sucks, Just canned responses !!! We have all been there with Online shopping, It sucks some time. With all the technology and still whenever there is a human element involved it sucks big time. Be it the poor customer service (a bunch of greedy crooks running the show) or poor shipping being a logistical nightmare. I think we will all agree to one thing here, for every pro there is a con as well. So despite the ecommerce giving us distinct advantages of convenience to shop from the comforts of our homes, It comes with its own set of challenges as well. There are security issues, Delivery issues and than there are grievances. Whenever we purchase a product online there is bound to be an issue with either the product itself or the shipping. While this has been considered to be the necessary evil of this business model and all successful etailing giants have focused on customer support and returns to create a smooth experience for the customer. Both Amazon and Flipkart are the prime examples of the customer support and prompt responses on grievances and returns. Unfortunately there are not so professional players too in the eCommerce arena. The result is massive frustration for the customer because most of the times the product is not same as described or it was late in shipping or came broken or not working. Worst part is that there is little to no customer service from these companies. So the million dollar question that we are trying to address here is what should we do if we are stuck in a situation like this. Following are the few things that can be done for ecommerce issues in India.

1. User Social Media to effect : Almost all the ecommerce stores have Facebook and Twitter pages. The idea is to post there with the exact nature of trouble with the transaction. The rule to remember here is to not engage in abusive language. You need to use the sentiment of the other people reading the posts to your advantage.

2. Write to the Top Management : Try to fish to the emails of the owners, for smaller companies even looking for domain registration records would help (www.who.is) and send them the details of your issues.

3. Use Online platforms : There are online platforms available such as www.akosha.com they claim to take your complaint to right problem. I have not used them and I can’t vouch for them.

4. Other State Owned Avenues : There is this Government website www.core.nic.in which is a State owned consumer regulatory body. You can place your complaint here to get some support.

5. Legal Options : If you wish to take the matters further than there are some online legal service portals such as vakilsearch.com which can help you to get attention of the company. Once again I haven’t’ used them so can’t say from personal experience. Its a tricky road once you get cheated, but knowing that you have places where you can knock the doors always helps.

About The Author

Manu Mayank is director of Abacus Desk and a Redditor. He love to read about technology and sincerely feel that world is a better place thanks to the Internet. He is a strong supporter of Open Source and believe in knowledge sharing.This blog is just my contribution to the world wide web. Besides he also love to Cook and eat !!!